Mac and police suggest homecoming party response was appropriate

Both Hamilton police and McMaster admit they didn't anticipate a crowd of 5,000 partiers would overtake a neighbourhood and throw a raucous and destructive unsanctioned fake homecoming party on Saturday.

But neither will say they mishandled the situation.

And while neighbours say the party was the worst they've ever seen - by far" - police say previous years' gatherings were actually four times the size.

The push-and-pull over who is to blame and what, if anything, could have prevented the out-of-control party comes as police and McMaster say they are still combing through social media as they investigate the Saturday events. Party attendees flipped a car, damaged street signs and a police cruiser, scared and angered neighbours, swung from tree branches, left trash on lawns and urinated on houses.

In the meantime, residents want answers. And accountability.

This was the first time in my life I've been afraid in this house," said Kathy Garland, who lives two streets over from Dalewood Avenue, the epicentre of the Saturday party. She's lived there for 50 years. You could feel that, on the turn of a dime, it was going to escalate into something bad. Quite frankly, I'm surprised it didn't."

Garland said she witnessed partygoers pick up a lawn chair and throw it at a car. Throughout the afternoon and evening, loud fireworks disturbed neighbours - and their fearful pets. Her son's vehicle was damaged by someone who tried to pull off the plates and partygoers' music was so loud that when Garland called police from inside her home to complain, the operator couldn't hear her.

There was no control here," she said. Absolutely none."

Police were on the ground. But they didn't anticipate a crowd of 5,000, said Supt. Will Mason.

Mason said police had been working closely with the university in advance of the university's first home football game, which traditionally coincides with homecoming - cancelled this year due to COVID. Setting ground rules, police visited past problem-residences and warned occupants that if things got out of hand" they'd face sanctions. Police put 30 officers on the ground Saturday.

As the crowd swelled, police pulled in 15 or 20 more officers, said Mason, who was on scene. They blocked off the street and didn't let new people enter, he said. At some point, a car was flipped. (A GoFundMe for the owner, a McMaster student who was out of town, raised $10,000 in a day.)

Police didn't call in their public order unit - a team that specifically manages crowds.

Had the police been more aggressive, we might be facing some criticism on the other side, that we were too aggressive in pushing (students) out," Mason said, noting the crowd was, for the most part, not hostile" and co-operative," with some poorly behaved" exceptions.

Asked if police would have done anything differently had they known what was coming, Mason said he would have liked to have given his officers on duty more relief. But managing a 5,000-person crowd is always challenging, he said.

In 2018, police came under fire after a video circulated of a police horse knocking down a McMaster partygoer. The woman was not seriously injured.

On Saturday, police arrested and charged seven people with liquor licence violations and for causing disturbances. Police are still looking to speak with a man they believe was involved in the car flipping. He is described as white with brown hair, and was wearing a blue baseball cap, burgundy and yellow rugby shirt and khaki shorts.

McMaster confirmed it suspended one student in connection with the car flipping. The student is accused of breaching the student code of conduct. The university continues to investigate students' bad behaviour.

As for how and why the Saturday party got out of control, Sean Van Koughnett, McMaster's associate vice-president and dean of students, pointed to three factors: good weather, students visiting from other schools and the power of social media to get the word out.

We became a bit of a target," Van Koughnett told The Spec.

McMaster was never a homecoming party destination" the likes of other universities, he said, but this year, things shifted." Van Koughnett said he's spoken with students who told him many partiers were from out of town. He thinks this might be because other schools' homecoming parties are over, so McMaster was just next on the list.

The university expected a student gathering - just not one that big or destructive, he said. In the lead-up to Saturday, McMaster staff scanned social media for party plans. As Dalewood became the likely party spot, McMaster notified police and city bylaw, knowing the street might need to be shut down. McMaster also paid for additional off-duty police to be on scene.

The university is now talking about what - if anything - it could have done differently, Van Koughnett said.

Off-campus, our students are private citizens," he said. It's not to say we can't do anything ... but things that happen outside our campus, we're constrained."

Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com